It must have been a while since Taunton has seen an opening day such as this, writes Mike Selvey. Processional would best describe it with a dozen wickets falling in 58 overs before the rain came to send the players scurrying for an early tea. Durham did not cover themselves with glory when they batted, having won the toss, but neither, currently, are Somerset who have themselves subsided to 41 for 2 in reply to 155. In watching terms, this has not gone according to plan. A look at the young juggernaut Jamie Overton, in whose progress England are very much interested? He sent down 4 wicketless overs for 25, the same runs as conceded by his twin brother, natch, which is too expensive given the run of play. How about Craig Kieswetter? He is coming through the field strongly as a possible alternative to Matt Prior, should he not be fit for the first Test.Nothing about which to get excited today: a couple of unforced handling errors and a bit of hand-shaking as he took one a bit off centre and threw off one of his gloves ( although he does that a lot apparently). Never mind, there was always the prospect of Tres turning back the clock and showing the upstarts how it is done. Except that he poked at his first ball, the opening delivery of the innings , and Gordon Muchall at third slip got an early taster. There was not even a show of resistance from Nick Compton, for whom adversity is a spur. He too poked abjectly at the first delivery of a new spell, this time from Mark Wood, and edged to the keeper. Earlier, Alphonso Thomas had used the conditions skilfully to take 5 for 41, beating the bat regularly and bowling Paul Collingwood with the sort of delivery that would have dismissed the most obdurate of batsmen. Which of course it had.

3.32pm BST

MCC Women have made the perfect start in their pursuit of 284 to beat the Rest of the World, with Charlotte Edwards and Heather Knight reaching 50 without loss in the 11th over,writes Andy Wilson. Knight has played the leading role, and taken a real liking to Marizanne Kapp, the South Africa all-rounder who went for 15 in her first over after taking over from Ellyse Perry from the Pavilion End.Edwards started by smacking a horrible full toss from Perry down the slope to the Tavern boundary, and added a cover drive up the hill to the Grandstand in the Australian’s next over that will have given her more pleasure. But she’s become a bit bogged down since then and had a couple of lucky escapes. She could have been caught off the leading edge off Jhulan Goswami in single fingers, but the New Zealand wicketkeeper Rachel Priest was unable to hang on running back towards fine leg, and then risked running herself out going for a risky single - it looked close and she must have been relieved to see Alex Wharf, who is umpiring here with Neil Bainton, shaking his head. The Rest of the World colours appear to be burger mustard yellow, which is smeared on their jumpers to match their yellow hats.

Updated at 3.37pm BST

1.34pm BST

Well, we've now seen both sides batting on this Grace Road pitch, writes Richard Rae, and can confirm that while occasionally two-paced, it is indeed essentially very flat – which means Leicestershire have an opportunity to bat themselves into a pretty strong position against the division two leaders.

They did lose the in-form Greg Smith for just 4, nicely caught by James Vince low down at second slip off the pacy Kyle Abbott, but Angus Robson – determined not to be known simply as the brother of Sam – has played very well in going to 48 (including eight fours), while Ned Eckersley, while sometimes a little fretful outside off-stump, has played a couple of dismissively powerful pulls in going to 17. In their first innings, a lot of Hampshire batsmen got in without going on to make the big score that was needed: assuming Leicestershire don't fall into similar error, they should be thinking in terms of building a sizable first innings lead.

1.27pm BST

A ding-dong morning's cricket has seen Durham recover from potential disaster at 24 for 4 to reach lunch without further mishap, Scott Borthwick, 48 not out, and Paul Collingwood (24 not out) having added 65 together for the fifth wicket, writes Mike Selvey.

Somerset dominated the opening hour, with Alfonso Thomas removing both openers, and then Peter Trego taking the wickets of Mike Richardson and Phil Mustard with successive deliveries, the former lbw as he attempted to pull a ball that may have been a bit too full for the shot. Mustard offered a straightforward catch to first slip, Hildreth's second of the morning.

Later in the session there was the strange sight of Marcus Trescothick perched under the helmet at short leg. There is something wrong when the captain and senior player feels the need to do this.

Meanwhile, in the back of the press box, there is a plastic bucket on which is written “ Press Box Drinking Water” and which indeed has water in it. No cons are more mod than those here.

12.56pm BST

Lord's is looking glorious, and although there aren't many here, Mithali Raj has provided a treat for those who are, writes Andy Wilson. The 31-year-old, who was named as one of Wisden's five greatest women's cricketers of all time, has just gone for 67 from 71 balls, and must have been dreaming of a Lord's century until she was trapped lbw by Jenny Gunn, leaving the Rest of the World XI on 197 for four in only the 35th of their 50 overs in this one-off fixture against MCC Women as part of the celebrations of the ground's bicentenary.

The MCC XI, captained by Charlotte Edwards and including Claire Taylor – but not Sarah Taylor, who has a hamstring injury, and is replaced as wicketkeeper by Warwickshire's Amy Jones - made a good start, with Lancashire's Kate Cross dismissing the dangerous West Indies all-rounder caught behind for a golden duck.

Cross also had Suzie Bates caught behind but Raj joined Meg Lanning to add 90 in 13 overs for the third wicket. Lanning went to Heather Knight for 59 off 55 balls, but her fellow Aussie Ellyse Perry has kept up the pace, and now Deandra Dottin has come to the crease and clumped her second ball over mid on for four to bring up the 200.

11.23am BST

Greetings from Grace Road, where the CC Blog Live has already witnessed an interesting day's play between Leicestershire, much improved this season, and leaders Hampshire, writes Richard Rae. It's a gorgeous day in the East Midlands, and the Leicestershire faithful – a small but devoted band – have gathered in anticipation of seeing the Foxes take the two wickets they need to finish off the visitors quickly, before making the most of what looks to be a lifeless track. In particular they're looking forward to seeing Ramnaresh 'Ronnie' Sarwan with bat in hand – it's the Leicestershire's captain first appearance in the county championship for the best part of a year, remarkably, due to international commitments and a long-standing back injury.

Talking of Test stars, I was on commentary yesterday with Alan 'Spider' Mullally, the former England and of course Leicestershire and Hampshire left-arm seamer. He had some interesting tales to tell, including of one Kevin Pietersen, in which he recalled 'KP' coming in after an early decent innings, sitting down next to him, and quietly announcing- "I'm pretty good, aren't I?" A startled Mullally, having bowled to the likes of Tendulkar, told him he wasn't quite in the top league yet. "It was remarkable how much he always needed to be told he was good though," mused Mullally.

11.07am BST

A frisson of excitement made its way round the tea bar at Taunton, writes Mike Selvey. “Pringle is playing,” they were saying. It is a while since people were saying that. In fact is probably even longer since there was an accompanying frisson.

This though is Ryan Pringle, an off-spinning all-rounder with the build of a rugby forward (or a scrum-half these days). This is a dry-looking pitch and the word is that it might turn: not sure whether this means Vic has some influence at last. But it means that Durham are fielding two spinners, with Scott Borthwick the other, and, understandably have decided to bat first.

This does not mean that life will necessarily be easy first thing: there is a deal of cloud around and it remains warm and a little humid. A little something in the pitch would help the game along though, as 10 of the last 13 matches between the teams have been drawn, and there have been four draws on the ground this season.

I am trying to remember if the ground has changed much since last I was here. It has been a while, as the man on the gate remarked as he let me in: "I think you might still have been playing,”. I'm not sure he was far off. But it is good to get to another county ground as opposed to a Test match venue. It meant leaving home early – around 6.15am – although not as early as my old friend from The Times, who left on Saturday afternoon: the spirit of The Major lingers on.

On the way down I listened to the radio, wondering as ever whether BBC radio sports news would manage to mention cricket at all. We all know the answer to that, but it is understandable when there is news of a former Bolivian football manager to squeeze in. Perhaps the ECB have taken out a super-injunction on any news.

Meanwhile, in the said tea bar, while waiting for a late breakfast bacon roll, I was looking at the picture of Arthur Wellard, fast bowler and mighty smiter of sixes. It was Arthur who taught me to swing the ball during a visit with my school to Alf Gover's cricket school, the memory of which remains to this day. I held the ball, he made some adjustments to the grip, and I bowled my first away swinger. I used to buy him a bottle of Brewmaster afterwards but I owe Arthur a heap more than that.